A majority of all Canadians go online daily.

Internet Usage Trends

Tout ce que j’ai de besoin, c’est sur Internet.”
      (Montreal, new user)

My daughter registered for university through the computer this year – it’s faster, it’s easier. It’s very efficient. She really depends on it.”
      (Ottawa, near non-user)

Internet c’est une bonne source d’information pour faire un achat bien informé.”
      (Montreal, new user)

My ex-wife got me into it. When she went away for a couple of weeks, and all of a sudden the bills were here. She left me instructions for how to pay them online and I thought: “Wow! That’s really easy!”
      (Moncton, new user)

The Government of Canada has committed itself to make Canada the most connected nation in the world. This commitment has been made to ensure all Canadians have an opportunity to take advantage of our evolving information society. The tier one digital divide deals with the pervasiveness of Internet usage, independent of location of access, and is based on those factors that differentiate users and non-users.

The Internet has become an integral part of the Canadian cultural experience. Recent tracking data has shown that three in four are Internet users. An additional 7 per cent have had some experience using the Internet before, but have not used it recently. A declining, but significant minority of Canadians have no direct experience using the Internet. Qualitative findings, however, indicate that many without direct experience are able to access the Internet by proxy through the actions and experiences of family and friends [Figure 1].

In addition, frequency of usage by those online continues to intensify, with a majority of Canadians going online daily [Figure 2].

  • 74 per cent of Canadians have used the Internet in the past three months, up from 68 per cent in 2001.
  • 7 per cent have used the Internet before, but not in the past three months.
  • At 19 per cent, less than one in five Canadians has never used the Internet before, falling from 23 per cent in 2001.
  • A majority, 53 per cent, of Canadians use the Internet on a daily basis.

There, however, remain significant differences in overall usage trends across various subgroups. As mainstream society uses information technology with increasing intensity, the imperative to identify those being left behind becomes increasingly critical. In particular, seniors/retirees and low income Canadians continue to be at significant risk of being marginalized in regards to Internet usage.